No Ice Cream Social

Levi, “social chairman” of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at Cal State San Marcos, says, “Most of the students don’t live within a five-mile radius of the campus. There isn’t much to do on campus. We don’t have a football or basketball team.”

To create a social scene, Levi and the band Morning Riot staged eight off-campus parties within the past eight months. The events featured DJs, a live set by Morning Riot, and alcohol. They charged admission ($5 for women, $10 for men), and guests could only get in if they were dressed according to the prespecified theme (pajamas, sports uniforms, devils and angels, pilgrims and Indians, or Greeks in togas).

“It was an excuse for young people to show up with as little as possible on,” says Morning Riot drummer Josh Ahrend. The Jumping Turtle was rented out for the first four events, he says. When the parties outgrew the San Marcos club, they looked for a bigger venue.

“After being rejected by 20 to 30 places, I finally found Kaito in Encinitas,” says Ahrend. He says the band and the frat staged four parties at the 250-capacity sushi restaurant.

“Every event had a line of people around the building.” The last party was held on February 16.

“It was, like, 200 people over capacity.… The whole place was like one big mosh pit. There was so much condensation, you could write your name on the windows. There was so much moisture that our equipment started shorting out and we kept getting electrocuted.… There was vomit inside and outside. It was so packed that one girl had an anxiety attack. They had to call an ambulance.…

“There were undercover officers busting kids for drinking. I don’t know how they slipped in. I think there were, like, five people cited. The next thing you know, the cops showed up. At one time I saw eight cop cars, but I think there was more. They came inside and started clearing people out. It was over by 11:05. We were only into our fourth song. When they cleared everyone out, the place was in shambles.… The two midgets and the dominatrix we hired to perform never got to go on.”

Ahrend says that the owners of Kaito had sold their business and liquor license to another company and that February 16 was their last night in business. (The restaurant’s website, however, indicates that the restaurant planned a move to a different Encinitas location.)

ABC administrator Robin Van Dyke admits that ABC investigators were present but she won’t disclose why they were there or how many under-age citations were given out. She confirms that Kaito’s liquor license was being sold but that any ABC-related penalties must be addressed by the old owners before a transfer is allowed.

Attempts to reach Kaito management were not successful.

– Ken Leighton

Muse from Beyond Newish neighbor David J has reunited with Bauhaus multiple times and is planning a Love and Rockets reunion, but first there’s his musical about the life of Edie Sedgwick, which debuts March 6 in L.A.

“It’s part one-woman show [and] part rock concert, replete with avant-garde minimalist staging and video imagery,” says J on his blog of Silver for Gold (the Odyssey of Edie Sedgwick), which he wrote and directs. Sedgwick is best known as Andy Warhol’s onetime muse whose beauty and descent into tragedy have become the stuff of pop-culture legend.

“Writing Silver for Gold,” says J, “it felt as if I had entered into a subtle psychic relationship with this beautiful dead girl, and she was actively encouraging me to write. She became a bright light that glowed all the brighter whenever I started to create. It was as if she was feeding on the attention. This might sound highly fanciful, but that is how it felt. Edie was enduring in her ultimate role, that of the muse.”

Some incidental music for the production was provided by Marcelo Radulovich, of the local Trummerflora arts collective.

During his local residency, David J has DJ’d at clubs and sat in with a local Bauhaus tribute band at the Casbah. He mentored local singer-songwriter Renata Youngblood and recorded with her, reportedly playing her debut EP for Bauhaus front man Peter Murphy at the 2005 Coachella music festival and thus landing her an opening slot on Murphy’s subsequent solo tour.

Silver for Gold (the Odyssey of Edie Sedgwick) debuts March 6 at the Met Theatre in Hollywood and will run through March 16.

– Jay Allen Sanford

Box-Office Surprise “The show was fabulous, and the venue is fabulous,” says “Melanie” of the February 8 Tab Benoit show at Anthology. She says she loves just about everything about the 300-capacity supper club and music showcase in Little Italy, but she wasn’t too happy about a box-office surprise.

“I was there for the second show. We waited in line and paid cash for the tickets. When it comes time to pay, there was a $3-per-ticket service charge.”

She recalls the ticket price being advertised as between $10 and $27.

“When I asked about it, there was this guy who worked there named Roy who told us it was to pay for three ‘beautiful women’ who worked the door. That’s not exactly what I wanted to hear.…

“I just think it should have been advertised that tickets start at $13. Besides, if they are going to use that money for nice-looking people, get some hot guys down there, goddamn it.”

One local promoter says service charges have become more common.

“It started about five years ago; it’s just the newest trend to develop another revenue stream. House of Blues does it. The Sports Arena has a $3.50 service charge. Qualcomm and Coors also charge a service charge for every ticket they sell.”

The promoter says that many artists appear for a set guarantee versus a percentage of the door (whichever is greater). Because the service charge is not part of the advertised ticket price, the venue does not have to pay the artist a percentage of that fee.

Comments

The quote in DONT TAX ME BRO, “The reporting rule is that if you pay someone $600 or more over the course of the year, you must issue a Form 1099.…" is incorrect. The actual law specifies receipt of "income" or "wages" of $600 as the minimum for filing.

These are custom-defined legal terms that mean "earnings derived from the exercise of federal privilege". So, unless you work for the feds, you are not obligated to pay the "income tax". Crooked lawyers, accountants, and judges lie about this in order to help the IRS collect from non-taxpayers through fraud and force (jail, confiscation).

You are conned into volunteering to pay. How? By agreeing with perjured W-2 and 1099 testimony when you file your own 1040/540 testimony. For non-federal earners the true figure to put on your 1040/540 would be zero wages. Don't forget to correct the false W-2 and 1099 testimony and send that instead.
See www.losthorizons.com for details.

No I am not Wesley Snipes. His strategy was the old "do not file 1040s". That approach to avoiding income tax had been discredited years ago and Wesley never kept up with the times. The IRS used him as a high profile example to scare people away from trying to follow the law as written. They knew he was an easy target, because of his flawed strategy. Only, by filing as per the website noted in my original comment can a non tax payer succeed.

Interesting, strawman. I actually give the IRS credit. I remember when the Willie Nelson thing went down, and reading about the case. They were totally cool with working on a deal with him. They realized it was his people that did bogus stuff, not him. And, they've done other stuff I've heard about, that impressed me. People always just assume the worst (note to any IRS agent that may be reading this: please don't audit me)

joshb,
The IRS is very cordial if you agree to pay up. They were also very agreeable with Wesley Snipes, once he agreed to pay what they wanted. It's all about the money. If you look at the website I referenced, you will see just how criminal they are when one does not want to volunteer into their scheme. Their brochures state plainly that income tax is based on voluntary compliance, "but you MUST volunteer". Huh?